And bennet vandecar



No. 474,242. n 'PATENTED FEB, 11/1858.

n. PAYNE @L B. VANDBGAR.

COTTON PICKER',

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titshf'tatse @nicht @ffice WATERFORD, NEW YORK.

I Letters .PatentN-o. 'I4,2l2, dated Fellruaryll, 186,3.

IMPROVEMENT 1N reerroN-Pwu'sss.

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10 ALL WHOM 'IT MAY CONCERN: v

Be it known that we, CHARLES PAYNE, of Brandon, county of Rutland, State of Vermont, andBENNET VANDECAR, of Waterford, in the county of Saratoga, and in the State of New York, have invented a' new and useful Improvement in VMachines for Gathering Cotton; and we do' hereby `declare that the followingis a full, clear, and exact description thereof,\which will enable those sltilicd lin the art to make and use the same, reference l eing, had tothe accompanying drawing, `forming part of this specication, in which drawing- Figure 1 represents a longitudinal section of the machine.

Figure 2 is a plan view. v n f This invention -consists in gathering cotton by the use of a blast or currents of I ir, which areldiroctcd against the lols in such a manner as to separate the cotton from the stalks, and propelor chi-ry them into a v suitable receptaelelI n l The letter A designates a frame, whieh'is supported `upon wheels B," whose" peripheryis roughened t'o pre-` vent them from slippingon'the ground. The front of. the frame is provided with thills to'allow a horseto be attached to the machine. Upon the axle of the running-wheels B, I placca whecLL, of lessQdismeter, which is connected to, so as to revolve with said wheels B when the machineis moving fnorwards`,'by a pawl that engages teeth on the hub of'pne of them, said pawl slipping` over said teeth when thsmuchiue is moved buckwards. 'Ilhis device for turning wheel L is common te some other agricultural mnchines,`and I, therefore, have not considered it necessary to represent the same in the drawing. `Thewlieel L has an inside gear, which engages with al pinion placed on the outer end of shaft M, and through it turns that shaft.. `Said slxaftM car ri'es a loose gear-wheel, D, which engages with a gear-wheel, D, on a parallel shaft, D', which carries a large driving-'pulley that is connected by :i band to a small pulley fixed on the shaft of a fan enclosed in a. fan-case, a

C. The sliaft'M has on it o. sliding clutch,iK, which is connected -to the shaft byu` feather and groove, or equivalentdevicc, so that it must always revolve with said shaft, and, by moving said clutch, by means of arm lr intocngagement with a counter-clutch formed on the hub of wheel D, the motion of Athe shaft is communi cated to said wheel D, a'nd the fan is thereby revolved. A high'speed is given-tothe fan bythe usual means of combining gear-wheels and pulleys of larger and small diameters. The fan-case C has opeuingswin itil c ir cumferonce, in which are secured elastic or flexible pipes or tubes E, one or more, as maybe desired. We have shown two iuA this example. Theirv nozzles are hung in a sliding frame, F, which is arranged to slide up and down in the extension A' of the frame of the machine, the object b eing to adjust or move the nozzles of the pipes to a higher or lower elevation, according to the height'of the cottonin the field. The sliding frame-F is raised by means of u. winch, I, and rop, G, the latter n going over a pulley, H, on the upper part of the extension A. The winch I is placed at a'poln't convenient of access to the driver, forlwhom `a. seat muy be arranged en the front part of the frame A. The -nozzles of the pipes or tubes are 'connected tothe sliding ftsmeF by means of vertical spindles' or rods J, fixed in the 'cross-bars of said frame, which rods go through ears that` project from the sides of the nozzles, or from collars placed around the nozzles'.` VIn this example, we have formed the ears on such collars. The ears are made fast to the rods by setlscrews, by loosening which the nozzles can'be sot higher or loweron the rods independently of the movements ofthe sliding frame. ,The'vrds are so arranged in the sliding frame that they con turn on their centres, and consequently the uoazlesye perwitted to vibrate or tur in horizontal directions, so as to give u wider sweep 'to the blasts'oflair that issue from them.

"lhe extension part.A of the machine has a lateral branch, seen in iig. 2, which projects fer enough to l extend beyond the row ot' cotton that is to be 'operated upon, thelateral hranchbeing made high enough to go over its top. The said branch of thc extension supports, at its cuter end, a. receptacle for the cotton, to receive it as it is blown oiithe plants by the currents oi' air from the pipes or tubes. In this example the receptacleconsists et a bag, N, which hangs down, so as to enclose a row of cotton-plants `between it and the restot the nuschine, the upper part of the bag being distended on u wire frame, which combineslightucss with stidncss,

andlenables us to give :i suitable form to the uppeil portion of the bag, so that the bagA cau easily passbe'tween adjacent rows of plants, and be kept in proper position opposite ,the nozzles of tbeppes, thefaee of the bag opposite to them being entirely open, or having a. wide mouth, through which the cotton isblownswhen it is separated from the stalk by the force of the blasts of air. When the .bag is filled with cotton, it is replaced by a fresh bag, or else it is emptied and retained on the machine. It'can be emptied `from its bottoni by making its lower part `capable of being opened. The bag is made cf'net-'work or cloth, or'other'light mate-rial.

The running-gear and frame of tbe machine .are of such narrow dimensions'as will allow-tbe someto beI drawn or propelled between adjacent rows of cotton-plantspanduuy suitable inode of propulsion or draught cany be used to take it through the eld. The pipes E can`bemad of rigid material, provided they are so jointed as to be capable .of being beutl The application of' blasts or currents of. air to bolls of cotton can bc madein various other ways, sind the` mechanism of the machine andthe fan or fans and air-pipes can all be modified by the ingenious or skillful mechanic. We therefore dov not couiine ourselves to auy'partieular devices for carrying out our invention, but f we claimbroadly the application of blasts of air to cottonA to blow oi the fibres from the'stalks o'r bells Aet' the plants. v Y y What vwe claim' as new, and desire'to secure by Letters Patent, is Yi Y 1. Removing cotton from the bells by blowing it olf away from the airfpipes, in eoxitradistinction to dt'iving it into the air-pipes by suction, substantially 'as shown, n i v Y I I y2. The combination of a fan,o r its equivalent, with elastic orexible pipes or tubes E, and a sliding' fra-me, F, to'raise or lower their nozzles, substantially as andfor the purpose described. I'

3. The combination of the rotating spindles J in the sliding frau-io F with the nozzles offth'e pipes E, sub stantially as described.

' 4. The extension A of the frame of the machine, in combination ivitll th'e sliding frauieF and the bag N,

substantially as described.

5. The combination, with the air-pipes E, of the bag N, which receives the cotton bloirnoil` the stalks of the plants, substantially as described.

CIIARLES PAYNE, Bernina.'` VANDECAR.

}as to VAANDscAn. 

